A celebration of community for Lutheran Child & Family Services
A community of supporters and staff gathered in downtown Chicago on Oct. 22, all to raise money for the work of Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois.
And raise money they did; we exceeded our goal for the 22nd annual Harvest Gala, raising at least $176,000, with donations still coming in. Part of that total included $26,000 raised toward this year's special initiative to purchase one of two needed minivans to safely transport Lutherbrook youth.
LCFS President and CEO Gene Svebakken spoke with those in attendance about removing obstacles for those facing difficulties in life, “As a community gathered together in this room, we are doing just that. It takes the commitment of a community to improve the well-being of children, individuals, families and communities throughout Illinois. It takes the commitment of a community to remove obstacles that are barriers to people living their lives to the fullest.”
That support was further displayed by tracings of hands of the members of the various communities supported by LCFS. Through their simplicity those drawings gave a sense of the vulnerability of those we support. Attendees showed their support by placing tracings of their own hands around the tracings already present. These drawings were then to be returned to one of the service locations from where they originated: Lutherbrook, Chicago Uptown Ministry, a family counseling center and a food and clothing distribution center.
The master of ceremonies for this year's gala was WGN-TV's Linda Kollmeyer. She is best known as the host of lottery drawings on WGN, but she has reached out to communities through jobs ranging from nurse to fitness instructor to actress. Linda's enthusiasm helped build up excitement throughout the evening, which crescendoed as celebrity chef and Gala auctioneer Chris Koetke elicited bids from the crowd during the live auction.
The evening's featured speaker was Thomas Pavelec, who along with his wife Georgene, are LCFS adoptive parents. Tom spoke passionately about the adoption of their son and the tremendous assistance they received from LCFS throughout the process. In the end Tom expressed his gratitude to LCFS for, “what it has done for me and so many children and families...”
Beyond the evening's fun and excitement, Gene Svebakken summed up for those in attendance the importance of their working together, “Belonging to our community means caring, sharing and helping others live life to the full. Through your support of LCFS you are doing just that.”
The 23rd annual Harvest Gala is scheduled for Saturday, October 20, 2012. (www.lcfs.org/HarvestGala)